The Nigeria Police Force said it would deploy additional 26, 000 personnel for the Anambra governorship election scheduled for Nov. 18.

The Force Public Relations Officer, Jimoh Moshood, stated this in a statement made available in Abuja.

The IGP also outlined the detailed security arrangement for the period of the election, saying that the personnel dispatched to Anambra State for the governorship poll would display a high level of professionalism in their conduct and would ensure that polling units are adequately protected.

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He said, “Purely for this election, we are deploying an additional 26,000 police officers. These officers are going to enforce security at the polling units; each polling unit will have a minimum of five policemen in addition to other sister security agencies.”

The spokesman said that police personnel deployed for the election were under strict instruction to be polite and civil in discharging their duties.

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He said that there would be no vehicular movement in and out of the the state during the election from midnight on Nov. 17 till after the voting period on the day of the election.

The police also addressed the threats by the Independent People of Biafra (IPOB) and other to disrupt the election.

“The force has deployed special police forces, police mobile force, specially trained counter terrorism unit and other intelligent and tactical squads to deal decisively with IPOB, a group already declared a terrorist organisation by court of competent jurisdiction in accordance with the law.

“The good people of Anambra state are implored to go out and vote on the day of the election and disregard the “Vote and Die” threat campaign or the call for boycott of the election by IPOB, as enough security measures are in place to protect them and every available resource of the force are being deployed to make sure that IPOB don’t actualize the threats.

“Furthermore, IPOB and its leadership are warned in their own interest to steer clear of Anambra state, the Nigeria Police Force will not hesitate to use all legal means within the ambit of the law to checkmate and prevent the group from interfering in the conduct of the election,” the statement said.

The statement also advised political parties, flag bearers contesting in the election, traditional rulers, community leaders, parents and guardians in Anambra state to prevail on their members, supporters, subjects, children and wards to be law abiding and not allow themselves to be used to cause disturbance of the peace or disruption of the election anywhere in the state.